Radio Truth or Consequences
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What follows is a typical radio industry approach to feeding the flock biased information, and hoping that it lifts spirits enough to get them to tomorrow.
I mention it because my prescription for curing radio's ills comes from an opposite perspective; point to the industry's misinformation in hopes radio leaders understand the flock now gets info from both sides of the fence. You simply can't sweep things under the rug like radio trade publications did when they were the industry's only voice.
At issue is the coverage that radio is being applauded for delivering over the course of the East Coast storms. We all saw the NAB press release titled "NAB CEO Salutes Broadcasters for Coverage During Historic Snow Storm." Its lead sentence is "National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Gordon Smith praised local radio and television broadcasters across the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and the East Coast for their news and weather coverage of historic snow storms in recent days."
Sounds impressive, with CEO Smith going on to exclaim, "Broadcasters have always been a lifeline in times of crisis, but never more so than in recent days for millions of Americans living in the path of these historic storms."
The press release then lists 5 stories about television giving excellent coverage.
The Baltimore Sun - "Baltimore TV goes all live, local for second storm"
The Philadelphia Inquirer - "Local TV news comes through in the storm"
New York Daily News - "Winter storm blows in exceptional - and unusual - snow coverage by Ch. 4 WNBC"
The Washington Post - "Weather coverage lets local TV stations such as WUSA, WRC and WJLA stand out"
Broadcasting & Cable - "As the Snowy World Turns"
The release also listed three articles from one NTS MediaOnline, an internet publication with a slug line of "The Daily Digest of Talk Media."
"Snowlapalooza!' 2010""
"Blizzard Challenges Philly And NYC Stations, Too"
"Nothing like a team-building sleepover"
Television certainly seems to have things covered in Washington, where broadcasters need to emphasize their importance in times of emergency. Radio response was a little less obvious, with WTOP stepping up to the plate with exceptional coverage. Only I was not seeing that other area stations followed suit, so I did some digging on my own.
Wouldn't you know it? The only item I could find was this report from the Observer-Reporter, a newspaper serving Pittsburgh (another hard-hit city). Its headlines, however, didn't seem to jive with what was coming out of NAB's publicity machine. The author of "Radio is not in tune with its snowbound listeners" stated: "Around the dial, music was everywhere...Finally, an announcer said something like this: 'Well, folks, we've got a situation,' and proceeded with a list of ... mall closings!"
He continued, "Nary was a word offered about the status of electrical power or when one could expect a telephone - or even a cell phone - to be operable."
That sounded eerily similar to an article I wrote about the great snowstorm that rocked Cleveland in 2005. These italicized words appeared here on April 27, 2005. They describe a situation that is not uncommon - weather emergencies. Only, these words are reported from the viewpoint of a listener. Me.
No matter where you live you heard about "the storm, a record-breaking snowfall covering the midwest." While the metropolitan Cleveland area did not get pounded, the area south and east of the city did, with 198,000 homes losing electricity.
Here's where this story begins: 9:30 Sunday evening under the weight of over a foot of snow, trees broke and power shut down - an understandable inconvenience.
As Monday morning started, with power still out, I turned to a transistor radio for details thinking there'd be updates to help me get a grip on the problem. With radio's newfound awareness of the need for "local" coverage, it seemed a no-brainer that I could rely on this media to supply information. I thought it probable that radio would expand coverage with sound bites from an electric company spokesman, too. After all, no electricity means no TV or broadband for nearly 200,000 families.
As my radio mind saw this, here was an opportunity for the industry to prove it indeed offered the community a service. My ears discovered quite a different story though, and what makes this a story is that this degree of non-reporting is sure to be duplicated in many cities. Radio stations do not operate in a vacuum. Take Jack as an example.
First stop, the only news station in town, Clear Channel-owned WTAM where the slug line is "If you need to know, depend on us."
I did. They didn't deliver.
In between the two to three sentences in each newscast that told of a major power outage there was no sound bite from electric company personnel in any of the newscasts I heard. Nor was there evidence of digging for information to reveal the true extent of the damage. School closings, resting at over one hundred, got a frequent mention. I also heard, repeatedly, up to two minutes of news on the preceding day's football draft. At one point WTAM featured a six-minute interview with Tony from the TV program "24." Too bad they couldn't get someone from the electric company to tell me if there would be electricity to watch the show.
Other CC stations gave even less news regarding the storm's effects.
Now here comes the real telltale sign: Clear Channel offered more on this major power outage than our Infinity, Radio One, or Salem-owned stations. There was no depth in details anywhere, a point I discussed with a VP of one group's stations later in the day.
Not finding a slew of information on how the radio industry responded to this most recent blizzard in 2010, it's difficult to give solid evidence that local stations did little or a lot to help during the storms. I lean that response was more on the "Observer-Reporter" side than the NAB's report.
Radio uses the public airwaves to do business and make profit. It should not be applauded for gathering information and delivering it to the public during times of emergency as these are actions demanded by virtue of license ownership.
If radio industry leaders strive for this level of service only during times of emergency, they are missing the main purpose of "serving a community" and will continue to suffer the consequences.
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From: Chris Keach
I've been a broadcaster since 1980 and I know what works. Get involved with your community, sponsor fun free events, bring your listeners information or coverage that they can't get anywhere else. I really believe the problem with shrinking radio demographics and formats arises from radio owners and management who try to be front-line proramming people without actually interacting with the real audience. |
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